Leiden University Student Repository

Littel, Nina 2019

'Minority consciousness gone mad?' Exclusion, inclusion and self-organisation of disabled LGBTI people in the Dutch and British LGBT+ and disability movements, in the late twentieth century

Research master thesis | History (research) (MA)

open access

This thesis gives a comparative account of the history of organising among LGBTI disabled people in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Taking an intersectional...Show moreThis thesis gives a comparative account of the history of organising among LGBTI disabled people in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Taking an intersectional approach, this thesis sheds light on the experiences of those who were multiply-identified, and on the isolating impact that groups organised around one singular identity could have. Moreover, beyond addressing homophobia in disabled spaces and ableism in the lesbian and gay subculture, this thesis focuses on how disabled LGBTI people organised themselves as a response to these exclusions. Thus, based on archival and oral sources, this thesis shows how disabled LGBTI people navigated both LGBTI and disabled spheres, and how and why they created or used disabled LGBTI spheres and content. Additionally, this thesis analyses processes of positive identity formation and the use of emancipatory rhetoric in disabled lesbian and gay groups. These developments are discussed in relation to the national contexts these groups existed in, specifically with regards to the broader lesbian and gay movements, and the disability movements. Finally, this thesis takes into account implicit or explicit processes of inclusion and exclusion, with regards to transgender people, people of colour, and people with intellectual disabilities. The creation of implicit or explicit boundaries to group membership worked to create a normative identity within disabled lesbian and gay groups as well. This illustrates the importance of the intersectional approach taken in this thesis, which allows space for those identifying along other axes beyond disability and lesbian and gay subjectivities.Show less